


white noise

by hikazeraeth



Category: Danball Senki
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:00:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26464555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hikazeraeth/pseuds/hikazeraeth
Summary: Hikaru learns that voices eventually fade.
Relationships: Hoshihara Hikaru/Sena Arata
Kudos: 4





	white noise

**Author's Note:**

> i haven't written for this ship since.. 2015/2016? it feels good to be writing for them again! quarantine has gotten me obsessing over my old fandoms
> 
> this fic doesn't comply a lot to canon, as I hadn't had time to rewatch the entire series but the references are there!

* * *

He's loud.

Sena Arata is annoyingly loud.

Hikaru notes this upon their first meeting. the redhead had asked about directions and Hikaru had promptly ignored him. He takes a deep breath and hopes that they're put in separate rooms.

Fate decides to play a prank on Hikaru by not granting him that wish. They turn out to be roommates.

He gets to spend the rest of his school years with a loud, annoying and whiny redhead.

Yay.

* * *

They don't get along at first. Honestly, if he had to admit it, it's mostly Hikaru's fault. Arata is too friendly and Hikaru is too distant. They're both stubborn, him at keeping his distance and Arata's continuous attempts at erasing that distance.

Haruki does what he can, but he's just one man. He can only do so much. Sakuya usually tries to distract Arata, but he succeeds about only 85% of the time. Jenock's first platoon is a mess and the ones responsible for the mess are Hikaru and Arata.

Hikaru can't even escape to his own room, because he shares it with the the other boy and the best he can do in there is either buy earplugs, or use headphones. He's tempted to use a pillow (to cover his ears or to throw at Arata, he doesn't know) but most of the time, he forces himself to zone out.

If he tunes everything out, if he really tries, he can almost block out the sound of Arata's voice.

_emphasis on almost._

* * *

They become friends. Sort of.

After Hikaru's fever and his.. little episode of self development, as Sakuya had called it, they become amicable. He tolerates and answers Arata most of the time. Hikaru still ignores him when he doesn't have the energy to respond, but Arata now has the decency to stop when he knows the blond won't respond.

As the weeks flew by, they fall into a routine, unintentionally. Hikaru gets up earlier, takes a shower and then comes back to the room to change clothes and wake arata up. On the good days, Arata will wake up even if he complains about it non-stop. On the bad days, Hikaru leaves him behind. There are more bad days than good, and Hikaru wonders why he even bothers.

On the days where Arata does wake up, he'll walk together with Hikaru. These walks were usually filled by Arata's rambling and Hikaru's occasional quip. He tries to listen to what the redhead talks about though, he's not that much of a jerk (not anymore, at least). Arata's voice is familiar to him now.

The blond had to admit, it's … nice.

It's comforting.

* * *

He's worried.

What was Arata doing..? Those movements weren't normal. Nothing about it was. It almost didn't seem human.

War Time ends and he gets out of his pod, to rush over to Arata's pod, with Haruki in tow. He sees the rest of the teams gather around, worry evident on their faces

The pod opens up and Arata, for the most part, looks fine until he tries to stand up. He promptly collapses before he finishes his sentence, and Hikaru and Haruki nearly combust thenselves. They rush to his aid and bring him to the health bay.

When he awakens, Hikaru is relieved. He doesn't like the sound nor the look of arata in pain.

They get an explanation about Overload and Hikaru's heart still worries. He tries to squash down the envy too. He fails in doing that, when Arata asks him about it that night. but Arata doesn't seem to mind his bluntness, lost in his own thoughts.

* * *

_Pain._

_Absolute pain._

Hikaru feels his vision fade, his body burning, and excruciating sensations throughout his entire being.

The last thing he hears before blacking out was Arata screaming his name.

He doesn't like that sound.

* * *

When he awakens, he's a little disoriented. He doesn't remember his and Arata's dorm ceiling being that stark white. And when did their room start smelling like antiseptic..?

It takes a while for him to connect the dots. He's informed of the electrocution attempt on his pod, and he grips his bedsheets in frustration. How many days had it been? Was the first platoon okay without him?

The nurses and doctors leave him be after checking his vitals and informing him of an extra two nights that he has to stay for. He wants to argue, he wants to go back to his team but instead, he chooses to not say anything and complies. He had nearly lost his life, after all.

Lying down on the sheets, he stares at the ceiling. He doesn't like the silence. He notices how he still felt a little numb. Whether it's from electrocution or his heart, he's not sure.

He wishes Arata was here. His memory was fuzzy, but he just really wants to hear arata's voice. Maybe he just wants some normalcy for a bit. Was hearing Arata's voice normal? It had become a constant in his daily routine and it was jarring to not hear it.

( _Mitou Reina drops by a bit later, with a get well card from his team. his heart lightens a bit._ )

* * *

He returns and the relief he feels flooding through him when he hears Arata call for him is both exhilarating and confusing. Had he missed it that much..? He stores that info away for later.

He ensures them that he's well enough to join War Time and deploy.

And that turns out to be a lie.

He'd felt uneasy when he approached the pod, and Haruki had noticed. He'd shaken the feeling away. He couldn't afford to waste more time than he already had.

Everything after that is a blur. He just remembers feeling nauseous, anxious, and downright terrified. He can't do this. his breathing comes in short and sharp, and he's hyperventilating. In the back of his mind, a quip - 'oh, a panic attack.'

What he does remember is his team yelling his name. and he blacks out from there.

He really doesn't like the way Arata yells his name in particular.

* * *

Hikaru's diagnosed with WTSD and is sent back to his room to rest for the day. He doesn't complain.

He sits on his bed, back to the wall and vision facing arata's side of the room. He takes in the slightly messy bed sheets, the haphazard pile of books strewn on arata's desk, and the light shining in from the window.

And suddenly, Hikaru feels exhausted. It takes one breath and he's sobbing. Tears start streaming down his face, and he makes an attempt at wiping them away with his sleeve but he doesn't succeed. Maybe it'd been a long time coming. It felt good to get it out, even if he felt so terribly weak doing so. The attempt on his life, the diagnosis, the mental stress that had been accumulating..

"Hikaru? Are you in here- oh."

The bedroom door opens. Arata sees him and through his own blurry vision, he can see Arata's eyes widen a bit. He places his messenger bag on his own bed and sets himself on Hikaru's bed. He lets him.

Arata doesn't say anything but he scoots back to where Hikaru is sitting. He leans against the blond, providing his own warmth. Hikaru chases after it like a vampire to blood, like a moth to a flame.

Slowly, he calms down and stops crying. Arata doesn't comment on it, just turns to him with a look that seems to ask, " _Are you okay?_ " Hikaru responds by leaning his head on Arata's shoulder, both basking in the silence.

For once, he didn't need Arata's voice. Arata's mere presence had been more than enough this time.

( _He doesn't bring the incident up. neither does Arata._ )

* * *

His kendo lessons come and go, and he emerges out of it a better person. He's not fully healed, no one ever is, but he's getting the most out of his days.

If he's a little more cooperative than usual, no one comments. If he's willing to talk a bit more, no one brings it up. and when he starts clinging a little closer to Arata, Haruki and Sakuya don't comment on it.

and then Seledy Kreisler happens.

It's chaos. Pure, utter chaos. His classmates get LOST more and more. He can tell Haruki's become more protective of the first platoon, if the worry in his face before, during and after War Time was any indication. 

The atmosphere is tense, so thick that even a knife couldn't cut it and the way Arata's voice strains to keep its usual cheer takes a toll on Hikaru too.

One night, he sits on his bed with his back to the wall again and waits for Arata to come back from his shower. When he does, Hikaru pats the spot next to him and although an eyebrow is raised, arata automatically moves to claim the said spot. 

They lean against each other, enjoying each other's silence. Hikaru makes an impulsive move and threads his fingers with Arata's, looking away after doing so. He wasn't one to initiate contact after all. He feels Arata squeeze his fingers back.

He hopes and prays that they'll be okay.

* * *

They survive.

They've won.

They're okay.

* * *

Arata's leaving the island and Hikaru is far from okay.

When the boy had first announced it in class, he was sure that the shock on his face had been evident. in the corner of his vision, he can see his classmates react the same way.

He puts up a front though, wishing the boy a safe travel and promising to battle him again one day.

The day arrives. The boat leaves and the remaining members of Jenock's first platoon stare at the retreating boat. Hikaru belatedly wonders if Arata had taken his heart with him too.

Haruki tells him that he and Sakuya heading back to Duck manor, and Hikaru says he'd like to be alone for a bit. The captain obliges and leaves him be, Sakuya patting his shoulder before they depart.

He's alone. The silence is deafening.

He's.. confused. Tired. Empty.

Normally, Arata would make a joke and Hikaru would snap back but now.. There was no one. He knows that he still has his team, and classmates, but none compared to Arata Sena. The boy had changed him. Had Arata become something more important to him, over the past year?

The blond bites his lip. No, Arata.. was just a close friend. That's all. He shouldn't worry so much. Arata had promised to keep in contact. They'll be fine.. right?

Hikaru feels so, so cold. Arata took all his warmth with him.

He returns to Duck Manor much later than he intended to, and he doesn't miss the worried looks that Haruki and Sakuya give him. When he reaches his room, he stares at the empty side of the room. His vision becomes blurry.

* * *

He bounces back, eventually. It takes a few weeks and many attempts on Sakuya and Haruki's part, but they manage.

His days now consist of school, War Time, and hanging out with the other two. Yuno joins occasionally. It's different now, when the silences aren't filled by Arata but he doesn't dislike it. They ground him and he's grateful.

The nights are the worst. They hadn't given him a new roommate, as Hikaru had adamantly demanded them not to. He'd rather live with the silence and whatever was left of Arata. He wants his nights to be filled with the redhead's voice again, but he keeps that thought to himself.

It's just not the same anymore.

( _True to his word, Arata sends them letters and calls them when he can. The calls are sparse, but Hikaru clings onto what he can._ )

  
  


* * *

Arata's calls become even more sparse and Hikaru misses him terribly.

He doesn’t say it out loud. But he knows that Haruki and Sakuya know. The way he flinches when a phone rings, the way he looks forward to the mail and the ever growing bags underneath his eyes. He doesn't tell them about the nightmares. He knows that they know but only Arata had known just how horrible they had been for him.

His immune system hadn't been the best either, but he copes. His headaches had been more constant and his hearing had decreased slightly. When he brings it up to the school nurse, he's informed that they were possible effects caused by the electrocution from his first year. He's lucky that nothing else had happened, but he's told to come back, should his hearing worsen. It was only a possibility, but it was better to be careful.

He.. doesn't know what to feel after being informed of that. It's a mix of emotions. He's angry, he's frustrated. The possibility of losing his hearing angers him. He relied on it so much, and this happens all because of something that happened a year ago. Would.. would he be able to hear Arata's voice after that? Would he forget? He.. really doesn't want that.

When he leaves the health bay, Haruki and Sakuya are waiting for him. He looks at them, really looks at them and he's suddenly hit with all times that they'd helped him, assisted him, worried for him. What would happen if his hearing worsened? He wouldn't be able to listen to their voices, to find comfort in them.

Sakuya notices the stare, and asks what's wrong. That's all it takes for him to break down. They rush to him, and even though physical contact wasn't common among the three of them, he feels arms wrap around him.

He considers himself so very lucky that he still has them around.

( _He tells them what's wrong. He also tells Arata when he calls again. Hikaru finds it slightly amusing that they'd all had the same reaction: shock and immediate concern. He holds on to Arata's voice and tries not to let go._ )

* * *

He holds onto the voices around him, memorising each harmony, each chord and it becomes a melody in his head. The low baritone of Haruki's voice, the way Sakuya handled his tools.. He takes it all in and doesn't let go.

Sometimes he feels like he can hear Arata right next to him, like he never left.

Hikaru clings to that sound the most.

* * *

Arata calls only twice during the entirety of their third year.

Hikaru misses Arata's voice. His memories had started to fade, mixing in with everything that had happened in their second year. It'd been two years since he'd last seen the redhead, and memories don't remain stagnant. He remembers his voice being.. soothing. Calming.

It's their final year and Hikaru can't quite remember what Sena Arata sounds like anymore.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> excuse any typos, my vision is horrible  
> (๑•﹏•)
> 
> intepret that final paragraph however you want, bc even i don't know what it means
> 
> twitter: @hikazeraeth


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